André Murteira | Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas - Universidade Nova de Lisboa (original) (raw)

PhD Thesis by André Murteira

Books by André Murteira

Routledge, 2021

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the early modern military history of Portugal and it... more This book offers a comprehensive overview of the early modern military history of Portugal and its possessions in Africa, America, and Asia from the perspective of the Military Revolution historiographical debate.

The existence of a military revolution in the early modern period has been much debated within international historiography and this volume fills a significant gap in its relation to the history of Portugal and its overseas empire. It examines different forms of military change in specifically Portuguese case studies, but also adopts a global perspective through the analysis of different contexts and episodes in Africa, America, and Asia. Contributors explore whether there is evidence of what could be defined as aspects of a military revolution, or, alternatively, whether other explanatory models are needed to account for different forms of military change. As such, it offers the reader a variety of perspectives that contribute to the debate over the applicability of the Military Revolution concept to Portugal and its empire during the early modern period. Broken down into four thematic parts and broad in both chronological and geographical scope, the book deepens our understanding of the art of warfare in Portugal and its empire and demonstrates how the Military Revolution debate can be used to examine military change in a global perspective.

This is an essential text for scholars and students of military history, military architecture, global history, Asian history and the history of Iberian empires.

"After the well-known exploratory voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1497-1499, the Portuguese quickly se... more "After the well-known exploratory voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1497-1499, the Portuguese quickly set up a regular maritime connection with India. The Carreira da Índia, sometimes called in translation the India Run, was the name given to the fleet system responsible for the annual sailings that took place between Portugal and Asia by the way of the Cape of Good Hope route during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was almost homonymous with the Spanish transatlantic fleet system, the better-known Carrera de las Indias, and until the seventeenth century its importance to the Portuguese Overseas Empire can be said to be similar to that of the Carrera to the Spanish Empire. During the sixteenth century, the route was sailed almost exclusively by the Carreira’s vessels, but in the seventeenth century the Portuguese ships were exposed to the undesired company of the fleets of the famous English and Dutch East India Companies, founded in 1600 and 1602. The subject of this book - Dutch privateering against the Carreira da Índia - - was a result of the new situation: unlike the English, the Dutch were only a menace to the Portuguese on the route to India from the moment ships of the United Provinces of the Netherlands entered the Cape route, after the pioneering voyage of Cornelis Houtman in 1595-1597. The period under study ends in 1625, when the annual number of departures of Portuguese vessels to Asia began to fall decisively, putting an end to a chapter of the history of the Carreira. The book is based on both Portuguese and Dutch primary sources.

Depois da viagem exploratória de Vasco da Gama em 1497-1499, os portugueses montaram depressa uma ligação marítima regular à Ásia, que passou à história sob o nome de Carreira da Índia. Durante mais de três séculos, a chamada Rota do Cabo da Boa Esperança - ou, mais simplesmente, Rota do Cabo - entre a Europa e o Oriente foi navegada por navios portugueses, que, melhor ou pior, foram mantendo a comunicação e o comércio entre o reino e as suas possessões asiáticas, o denominado Estado da Índia. Durante o século XVI, a rota foi sulcada em regime de quase completa exclusividade pelas velas da Carreira, mas, no século XVII, estas passaram a gozar da indesejada companhia das frotas das famosas Companhias das Índias Orientais inglesa e neerlandesa, fundadas em 1600 e 1602. O presente trabalho trata de um problema directamente decorrente da nova situação: o corso neerlandês contra a Carreira da Índia, que só passou a ser uma ameaça a partir do momento em que a Rota do Cabo começou a ser navegada também pelos navios das Províncias Unidas dos Países Baixos, depois da viagem inaugural de Cornelis Houtman pela Rota do Cabo em 1595-1597. O período tratado vai até 1625, data a partir da qual o número anual de partidas de navios portugueses para a Ásia caiu para não mais recuperar, encerrando-se com isso um capítulo da história da Carreira. O livro baseia-se em fontes primárias portuguesas e neerlandesas."

Papers by André Murteira

Ana Paula Avelar e Luís Costa e Sousa (eds.) - Representações do campo de batalha em Portugal (1521-1621). Imagens e textos, 2024

Jeremy Black (ed) - Global Military Transformations: Change and Continuity, 1450-1800, 2023

This article discusses recent historiographical trends regarding the evolution of warfare in Port... more This article discusses recent historiographical trends regarding the evolution of warfare in Portugal and its overseas empire in the early modern period. It presents a reassessment of the state of art on the Portuguese case in the early modern world (in the kingdom of Portugal in Europe and its overseas empire), followed by some contributions for an ongoing research agenda. It is divided in three parts, presenting overviews of the situation in Europe, overseas and at sea. It concludes that it is difficult to sustain that the Portuguese case supports the case for a link between an alleged military revolution and unilinear state-formation or Western military exceptionalism

The Journal of Military History, 2020

This article discusses Portugal's defeat in the Portuguese-Dutch war in Asia during the first qua... more This article discusses Portugal's defeat in the Portuguese-Dutch war in Asia during the first quarter of the seventeenth century, focusing on the much-debated issue of whether a military revolution in Europe produced a military exceptionalism that made Europeans militarily superior to non-Europeans in the Early Modern period. The view that Asian military influence on the Portuguese in the sixteenth century made them militarily inferior to European enemies such as the Dutch remains prevalent in Portuguese historiography. Such influence appeared to occur only in certain areas of naval warfare, however, in a way that does not corroborate claims for an extensive early modem western military exceptionalism.

Vegueta. Anuario de la Facultad de Geografía e Historia, 2020

Portugal’s independence from Spain in 1640 has also proved cause for a correspondingly clear dist... more Portugal’s independence from Spain in 1640 has also proved cause for a correspondingly clear distinction between historians studying the Portuguese in Asia and those who study the colonial Philippines. At times, it seems that historians of both groups are not fully aware that the war waged by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) against Manila was part of a wider conflict against all of the territories of the Spanish Monarchy throughout Asia. This article aims to position the Dutch naval incursions into the Philippines within the context of this broader international conflict, comparing them with similar initiatives of the VOC against Portuguese possessions scattered throughout the East.

Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis, 2019

Historians have often mentioned the privateering activity of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) a... more Historians have often mentioned the privateering activity of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) against Portuguese navigation in Asia. However, there have been almost no attempts to measure the phenomenon quantitatively. This article will present a listing as comprehensive as possible of Portuguese ships lost in Asia and on the Cape of Good Hope route as a result of Dutch attacks during the first quarter of the 17th century. Based on Dutch and Portuguese sources, this extensive sample of losses shall allow for a better knowledge of the numbers, the chronological evolution and the geographical distribution of Dutch attacks on Portuguese shipping in the period. It will be seen that the chronological and regional impact of the attacks varied, mirroring the evolution of the broader Dutch-Portuguese conflict in Asia. There was a peak in the number of Portuguese ships lost to the Dutch in the first decade of the 17th century. This was followed by a drop in the number of ships taken during a relatively quiet phase of the conflict. The short-lived alliance between the Dutch and English East India Companies brought about a new time of escalation and contributed to another period of high losses in 1620–1625. Nevertheless, it will be argued that a change in the nature of VOC privateering that took place around the same time in the Straits of Melaka was actually more important. Dutch attacks against Portuguese navigation turned then for the first time into a regular activity, taking place seasonally in accordance to a fixed routine. The data presented shall make clear the centrality of this region for Voc privateering by showing that more than one third of Portuguese losses to the Dutch identified in the period under study took place there.

Análise Social, 2019

This article approaches the 17th Century Portuguese-Dutch naval war in Asia in the light of the d... more This article approaches the 17th Century Portuguese-Dutch naval war in Asia in the light of the discussion on the military revolution, focusing on the related issue of whether the revolution produced a Western military exceptionalism that made Westerners militarily superior to non-Europeans in the Early Modern period. We consider the extent to which military Asian influence on the Portuguese in Asia in the 16th Century made them militarily inferior to European enemies like the Dutch in the 17th Century. It will be argued that it did so only in a limited way that does not corroborate claims for an extensive Early Modern Western military exceptionalism.

Este artigo pretende relacionar a guerra naval luso-neerlandesa na Ásia no século XVII com o tema da revolução militar, designadamente na discussão que tem gerado sobre a existência ou não de uma excepcionalidade militar ocidental no período moderno que teria superiorizado decisivamente ocidentais em relação a não-europeus. O tema é abordado considerando atéque ponto a influência militar asiática sobre os portugueses no século XVI os inferiorizou depois em relação a oponentes europeus como os neerlandeses no século XVII. Alegar-se-á que o fez apenas limitadamente, não chegando por isso para corroborar por extensão as reivindicações de uma excepcionalidade militar ocidental taxativa e decisiva.

Macau - The Formation of a Global City, ed. by C.X. George Wei, London: Routledge, 2014, pp. 95-106.

The route Goa-Macau-Japan was the most important Portuguese trade route in Asia during most of th... more The route Goa-Macau-Japan was the most important Portuguese trade route in Asia during most of the second half of the sixteenth century and the first four decades of the seventeenth century. As such, the great carracks that sailed it were obvious targets for the Dutch after they arrived in Asia at the end of the 16th Century. The 1603 capture of the richly laden carrack Santa Catarina by the Dutch captain Jakob van Heemskerck was the first and most famous case in a series of incidents which led the Portuguese to stop using carracks and galleons on their voyages to Macau and Japan in 1618, replacing them with smaller ships such as galleots and pinnaces. In this article, I propose to analyze Dutch attacks on Portuguese ships travelling between Goa and Macau and Japan before 1618, in order to know better the process that led to the replacement of large vessels by smaller ones on the route.

España y Portugal en el mundo (1581-1668), ed. by José Antonio Martínez Torres and Carlos Martínez Shaw, Madrid: Ediciones Polifemo, 2014, pp. 299-314.

La Tregua de los Doce Años en la Europa de los Pacificadores (1598-1618), ed. by Bernardo García García, Manuel Herrero Sánchez, Alain Hugon, Madrid: Fundación Carlos de Amberes, 2012, pp. 275-293, 2012

"In 1609, a twelve-year truce was signed between the Dutch Republic and the Hispanic Monarchy, br... more "In 1609, a twelve-year truce was signed between the Dutch Republic and the Hispanic Monarchy, bringing about a temporary cessation of the long Dutch-Spanish war of 1568-1648. The signing of the truce treaty had been preceded by a period in which the war went through a process of “globalization”. While during the first phase of the conflict hostilities were confined to the Low Countries, the sudden expansion of Dutch long-distance overseas trade in the last decade of the sixteenth century took Dutch merchants to several parts of the non-European world where the Hispanic Monarchy viewed them as intruders, opening the door to many Dutch-Iberian clashes far away from Europe (Portugal and its overseas domains were a part of the Hispanic Monarchy between 1580 and 1640). The consequences were especially serious for the Portuguese in Asia, where in 1605 they lost their two important fortresses in the Spice Islands, in Eastern Indonesia, to the newly-formed Dutch East India Company or VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie). In this article, I attempt to measure how successful the truce was between the Portuguese and the Dutch outside Europe. I allege that there was indeed not a suspension but a marked decrease in intensity in Portuguese-Dutch conflicts in the East between 1609 and 1621, which however had less to do with the truce than with the regional priorities of both the VOC and the Portuguese in Asia. I also attempt to demonstrate that although the truce did not succeed in bringing about a complete cessation of hostilities in the Atlantic, it had more practical effects there than in Asia. This was due, on the one hand, to the suspension of anti-Iberian privateering in waters close to Europe and, on the other, to the effective cancellation until 1621 of the projects to set up a West India Company, which had been imminent before 1609.

A chamada Trégua dos Doze Anos (1609-1621) entre a Monarquia Hispânica e as Províncias Unidas foi antecedida de um período em que o conflito hispano-neerlandês de 1568-1648 se “globalizou”, em resultado da expansão mercantil neerlandesa iniciada na última década do século XVI, que levou os mercadores neerlandeses a partes do mundo não europeu onde a Monarquia Hispânica não os queria aceitar, conduzindo-os a conflitos frequentes com ibéricos longe da Europa. Para os portugueses, o processo foi particularmente humilhante na Ásia, com a conquista de duas praças portuguesas nas Molucas (na Indonésia Oriental) pela recém-formada Companhia das Índias Orientais neerlandesa, ou VOC, na primeira década do século XVII. Mas a globalização do conflito hispano-neerlandês também atingiu algumas posições portuguesas na costa brasileira e na África Ocidental, assim como a navegação portuguesa no Atlântico em geral. Neste artigo, procuro medir até que ponto a Trégua teve efeito nas áreas de presença portuguesa longe da Europa. Alego que na Ásia, na segunda década do século XVII, se deu uma redução de intensidade, mas não uma suspensão das hostilidades luso-neerlandesas, menos por efeito da Trégua que das prioridades regionais da VOC. Tento igualmente demonstrar que, no mundo atlântico, a Trégua, embora não tenha também implicado a cessação completa dos conflitos luso-neerlandeses, teve mais efeitos práticos que na Ásia, devido, por um lado, à suspensão do corso neerlandês contra a navegação ibérica perto da Europa e, por outro, ao cancelamento, até 1621, dos projectos de criação de uma Companhia das Índia Ocidentais neerlandesa, que estivera iminente antes de 1609. "

Governo, política e representações do poder no Portugal Habsburgo e nos seus territórios ultramarinos, ed. by Santiago Martínez Hernández, Lisbon: Centro de História de Além-Mar, 2011, pp. 177-195., 2011

"Portuguese presence in Asia was centred since the beginning in the Western Indian Ocean, where m... more "Portuguese presence in Asia was centred since the beginning in the Western Indian Ocean, where most of the military and human resources of the so-called “Estado da Índia” were located. By contrast, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) made the Malay-Indonesian archipelago the centre of its activities in the East since its foundation in 1602. The VOC did not undertake any sustained military offensive against the Portuguese in the Western Indian Ocean until 1636. The heart of the “Estado da Índia” only began to be attacked in a systematic and continued way from that date onwards, through naval annual blockades of its capital, Goa, complemented from 1638 on by the Dutch intervention in the war of Ceylon between the Portuguese and the kingdom of Kandy. In this article, I try to analyze the period before the 1636 shift to all-out offensive war, focussing mainly on the previous oscillations of the VOC policy towards the “Estado da Índia”. I also attempt to compare them with the similar hesitations of the English East India Company, which until 1635, although undoubtedly less belligerent, wavered like its Dutch rival between adopting a clear offensive strategy against the Portuguese or opting instead to focus on trade and self-defence (and the occasional bout of privateering). When it decided to make peace with Goa in 1635 it was finally clarifying its position. It did so when its Dutch counterpart was also preparing to end decades of hesitation by taking a more consistent position towards the ‘’Estado da Índia’’. The difference lay in that for the Dutch this clarification meant opting for all-out war, while the English had opted for peace instead.

Como é sabido, era no Índico Ocidental que se encontrava o centro político e militar dos domínios portugueses na Ásia, o chamado Estado da Índia. Por contraste, a Companhia das Índias Orientais neerlandesa, vulgo V.O.C., fez do Arquipélago Indonésio o centro das suas actividades desde a sua fundação, em 1602. Até 1636, a V.O.C. não levou a cabo nenhuma ofensiva militar sustentada contra os portugueses no Índico Ocidental. O coração do Estado da Índia só começou a ser atacado de forma sistemática e continuada a partir dessa data, através de bloqueios navais anuais de Goa, complementados, a partir de 1638, pela intervenção neerlandesa na guerra de Ceilão entre portugueses e o reino local de Kandy. Na minha comunicação, tentarei analisar o período que antecedeu a viragem de 1636, concentrando-me sobretudo nas vacilações da política seguida então pela V.O.C. em relação ao Estado da Índia. Procurarei também contrastá-las com as hesitações similares da Companhia das Índias inglesa, que, como a sua rival neerlandesa, oscilou entre políticas ofensivas e atitudes meramente defensivas face aos portugueses, optando em 1635 pelo rumo inverso, ao celebrar a paz com Goa.
"

Anais de História de Além-Mar, IX (2008), pp. 227-264., 2008

"The present article aims to analyze the impact of Dutch privateering on the navigation between P... more "The present article aims to analyze the impact of Dutch privateering on the navigation between Portugal and Asia between 1598 and 1625. For that, I provide a reconstruction of the chronology of all known Dutch attacks against Portuguese Indiamen during the period, distinguishing in the process between attacks resultant from casual encounters at sea and attacks that resulted from planned efforts. Next I attempt to establish the proportion of failed voyages of Portuguese Indiamen directly or indirectly caused by Dutch privateering among the total of failed voyages of Portuguese Indiamen in the period.

O presente artigo pretende analisar o impacto do corso neerlandês sobre a navegação entre Portugal e a Ásia – a “Carreira da Índia” – entre 1598 – data em que os neerlandeses estabeleceram uma ligação marítima regular à Ásia – e 1625. Para tal, reconstitui-se a cronologia de todos os ataques neerlandeses conhecidos aos navios da Carreira durante o período, distinguindo no processo aqueles que resultaram de encontros casuais no mar dos que foram o produto de iniciativas planeadas. Procura-se em seguida determinar a proporção de viagens frustradas da Carreira provocadas directa e indirectamente pelo dito corso em relação ao total de viagens frustradas da Carreira no período."

Revista de Cultura / Review of Culture - Edição Internacional / International Edition, 36 (October 2010), pp. 124-144., 2010

Between 1604 and 1623 there were four major naval expeditions of the Dutch East India Company (VO... more Between 1604 and 1623 there were four major naval expeditions of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to the Western Indian Ocean with the aim of attacking Portuguese shipping between Portugal and Asia. As a result the Portuguese in their Eastern capital, Goa, were faced for the first time with hostile European ships. In the four occasions, the Dutch blocked Goa’s harbour - briefly during the first three times, in 1604, 1607 and 1608, but for several months in 1622-1623. The present article attempts to describe and analyze in detail this series of expeditions, paying special attention to their impact on Portuguese navigation between Europe and Asia.

Entre 1604 e 1623, deram-se quatro expedições navais da Companhia da Índia Oriental neerlandesa (VOC) ao Índico Ocidental, as quais tiveram, entre outros, o objectivo de atacar a navegação da chamada Carreira da Índia, que assegurava a ligação marítima entre Portugal e a Ásia. Em resultado destas expedições, os portugueses em Goa foram pela primeira vez confrontados por esquadras europeias hostis. Nas quatro ocasiões, o porto de Goa foi bloqueado pelos neerlandeses, temporariamente das três primeiras vezes, em 1604, 1607 e 1608, mas já durante vários meses em 1622-1623. O presente artigo procura reconstituir estas quatro expedições, prestando especial atenção ao impacto que tiveram sobre a Carreira da Índia.

Oriente, 19 (Autumn 2008), Lisboa, Fundação Oriente, pp. 3-26., 2008

Revista de Cultura / Review of Culture - Edição Internacional / International Edition, 26 (April 2008), pp. 96-105., 2008

In 1602 the Portuguese galleon Santiago was captured by two Dutch ships off the Island of Saint H... more In 1602 the Portuguese galleon Santiago was captured by two Dutch ships off the Island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic. It was the first Portuguese ship on the Cape of Good Hope route taken far from Portugal or from the Azores archipelago, and also the first to be captured by Dutch vessels. The battle that preceded the capture consisted of a three-day artillery duel, which came to an end without any boarding attempt since the Portuguese crew opted to surrender, fearing the sinking of the galleon. It is by far the best-described Dutch-Portuguese naval clash on the Cape route: there are two detailed accounts of the events, one by the Portuguese Melchior Estácio do Amaral – who presided over the inquiry into the capture carried out in Portugal -, the other by the Italian Francesco Carletti, who was a passenger on the galleon. It was mainly on the basis of these two texts that I tried to reconstruct this interesting case of an Early Modern naval confrontation decided by artillery.

Em 1602, o galeão português Santiago foi capturado por dois navios neerlandeses ao largo da Ilha de Santa Helena, no Atlântico Sul. Tratou-se do primeiro navio da Carreira da Índia tomado longe de Portugal ou dos Açores e também do primeiro capturado por neerlandeses. O combate consistiu num duelo de artilharia de três dias, resolvido sem recurso a abordagem, pois os portugueses renderam-se quando sentiram que o galeão corria o risco sério de se afundar. Dentre o grupo dos recontros entre embarcações da Carreira da Índia e navios neerlandeses, trata-se daquele que foi descrito com maior detalhe, pois existem dois relatos bastante pormenorizados dos acontecimentos, um do português Melchior Estácio do Amaral, outro do italiano Francesco Carletti. Foi sobretudo com base nos seus textos que procurámos reconstituir este caso interessante de um combate naval da Idade Moderna decidido pela artilharia.

Anais de História de Além-Mar, VII (2006), pp. 65-79.

Book Reviews by André Murteira

Oriente, 18 (Autumn 2007), pp. 122-127., 2007

Anais de História de Além-Mar, V (2004), pp. 539-542., 2004

De jacht op sandelhout. De V 0. C. en de tweedeling van Timor in de zeventiende eeuw, Zutphen, Wa... more De jacht op sandelhout. De V 0. C. en de tweedeling van Timor in de zeventiende eeuw, Zutphen, Walburg Pers, 2002. De jacht op sande/hout -de v.o.c. en de /\\Ieedeling van Timor in de zeventiende eeuw (A demanda do sandalo -a VO.c. e a divisao de Timor no seculo XVll) e a publica<;:ao de uma tese de douLoramento da Universidade de Leiden, [1] da auLoria de Arend de Roever, historiador holandes. 0 livro apresenta uma historia da Companhia das fndias Orientais holandesa (a VO.c. do tftulo) em Timor e na regiao circundanLe no seculo XVII, baseando-se sobretudo em fontes manuscritas neerlandesas, embora recorra tambem a algumas [ontes impressas noutras linguas, entre as quais algumas porLuguesas. 0 interesse da obra para a historia da presen<;:a portuguesa em Timor e evidente. Por isso, e como 0 neerlandes e um idioma pouco conhecido entre nos, achamos Lltil come<;:ar por resumir com algum deLalhe 0 seu conLeudo nesLa recensao.